O [ntario] Canada

I'm writing this from the library in Port Dover, Ontario. I was so excited to have access to the internet. One of the things I space out about while riding alongside corn fields is, What should I put on my blog? (Right up there with my next snack.)

This picture shows the Detroit River, as seen from a lovely park in Ontario. The opening in the distance is where the river reaches Lake Erie.



As I got further along and could see across the actual lake - that's what you see on the US side! (And that's Ohio, BTW not Detroit.)
US >>>>>










While as you ride into Ontario, this is what you see: a whole different approach to generating electricity. (Not to mention the solar clothes dryer.)
<<<<< Canada

Lest you think I am heavy-handed with visual editorializing, I have to say these windmills are everywhere! I've been riding in Canada for three days now and have seen them multiple times each day. On Monday, heading from Windsor eastward (along the northern shore of Lake Erie) I also saw lots of cool signs about bikes & cars sharing the road. Those disappeared by Monday afternoon, but people all along the route have been friendly and giving me room - none of these roads have shoulders, is the thing, and they're pretty narrow, so it takes some thought to make space for everybody.

The route I'm following is really lovely... the first day & a half of riding it was completely flat, and I had strong winds pushing me along, which was super fun. I found myself wondering, Am I going to get out of shape for climbing hills, if it's like this the whole way? How am I going to cross the mountains to get to the east coast?

Not so worried about that anymore (well, maybe about the mountains...) - today I hit hills. And the road is taking them the old-fashioned way: straight up. Or worse: straight down, with a hairpin U-turn at the bottom so you have to come to nearly a stop before the turn, thus losing all your momentum before climbing back up. It's mostly fun, except for when the wind's against you (as it was, bizarrely, most of today) or there's a big truck trying to pass - but it's going ok on the whole.

Now I'm looking forward to hitting Niagara Falls on Friday!! And crossing back into the US on Saturday, to hit the Erie Canal bike path... (Let's hope getting back in is less of a hassle than leaving: it took forever to get through immigration between Detroit & Windsor...)

I've also been thinking a lot about my destination(s). I've decided to end up in Massachusetts instead of Maine, but don't know exactly where or how I'm getting there... So if anyone has ideas about that, please let me know!